Madison Beer review – Bieber protege comes of age credibly

In 2012, aspiring pop star Madison Beer got a vertiginous career bump from Justin Bieber after he gushingly shared a clip of her covering Etta James’s At Last with his millions of Instagram followers. In the years since, Beer has relocated from New York to LA, released the odd single and maintained an impressive social media presence. It was only in February this year – just before her 19th birthday – that she finally released her proper debut, As She Pleases, a seven-track EP of retro-futuristic R&B. If the early days of Bieber’s career were characterised by cheesy teen-pop, Beer seems determined to skip straight to the credible reinvention.

In Glasgow, her teenage fans have turned out in force, and while Beer carries herself with a regal poise, she still seems impressed that the school disco crowd already know her songs back to front. They loudly echo the doo-wop vamping of Teenager in Love, a swaying throwback to the days of the drive-in, and pre-empt the sweet chorus to Fools, a glittering, Gorillaz-style groove that foregrounds Beer’s smoky vocals.